Incineration advocates argue that air emissions
are greatly reduced by chimney filtration equipment.

However, dioxins and furans are highly toxic
at concentrations of nanograms and picograms and no filtration equipment
can reduce emissions below these levels.

Even if filtration removed all the dioxins and
furans, these poisons would not disappear but would simply remain
in the ash. The less toxic the air emissions, the more toxic the residual
ash.

What Ireland intends to do with the hundreds
of thousands of tonnes of highly toxic ash waste generated by these
incinerators has not yet been revealed. It is infinitely more noxious
than the original waste and will also have to be buried in the ground.
The fly ash portion is particularly hazardous and can only be disposed
of in a specially licensed landfill site, but no such facility currently
exists in Ireland.

The World Health Organisation labels dioxin a
class one carcinogen and states that “in terms of dioxin release
into the environment, solid waste incinerators are the worst culprits
due to incomplete combustion”.

The 1999 dioxin and furan inventories of the
UN environmental programme report that waste incineration is by far
the greatest source of dioxin emissions in industrialised countries.
The Government, apparently so worried about the dangers of cigarettes,
appears unconcerned about turning us all into passive smokers of incinerator
fumes.